Recipes

Chicken and Brie Sandwich with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil 
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar 
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
¹⁄₄ plus ¹⁄₈ teaspoon kosher salt
¹⁄₈ teaspoon black pepper
¹⁄₄ cup mayonnaise 
1 tablespoon whole-grain Dijon mustard 
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (16 ounce) loaf French bread, cut in four pieces then cut horizontally
3 ounces Brie cheese, sliced
3 cups cooked chicken breast, sliced into thin pieces
2 cups fresh spinach

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 300*F.

2. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in large nonstick oven safe skillet over medium-high heat.  Add tomatoes and cook 4 minutes, stirring once.  Remove from heat and stir in 2 tablespoons vinegar.  Sprinkle tomatoes with thyme, ¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt, and pepper.  Transfer skillet to oven and bake 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and keep warm. 

3. Combine mayonnaise, mustard, and garlic in small bowl.  Spread out pieces of bread, cut side up, to assemble sandwiches.  Spread mayo mixture evenly over top halves of bread.  Spoon tomatoes evenly over bottom halves of bread.  Arrange Brie over tomatoes and top with chicken. 

4. Combine 2 teaspoons oil, 1 teaspoon vinegar, and ¹⁄₈ teaspoon salt in medium bowl.  Stir with whisk to incorporate.  Add spinach and toss gently to coat.  Top chicken with spinach mixture and carefully top bottom half of bread with top half of bread. 

Comments
This recipe is from Cooking Light 2001.  It was amazingly tasty.  Lots of great flavors that all just came together perfectly.  The only thing I’d modify when I make this again would be the bread, using a baguette was a bit complicated.  I think individual rolls might be easier to deal with.  These were really scrumptious sandwiches.

Cheesy Bacon Hash Brown Bake

Ingredients
1 bag (28 ounces) frozen potatoes O’Brien with onions and peppers
1 can (18 ounces) Progresso™ Creamy Three Cheese Recipe Starters™
1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
¹⁄₂ cup sour cream
¹⁄₃ cup green onions, sliced
12 ounces bacon, cut into pieces, cooked until crisp, and drained

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 350*F.  Spray 13x9-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. 

2. Place potatoes in large microwavable bowl and microwave, uncovered, for 6 to 8 minutes or until potatoes are thawed and hot. Stir every 2-3 minutes. 

3. Stir in remaining ingredients and pour into prepared baking dish. 

4. Bake uncovered 30 to 35 minutes or until hot in the center and bubbly around the edges. 

Comments
This recipe is from Progresso.  I don’t tend to use prepared stuff like this, but, in the past, I have greatly enjoyed Progresso’s soup.  I saw a recipe using one of these recipe starters on a blog I follow, and decided to get a few cans when I saw them at the grocery store. 

I thought this dish was tasty although it was a bit runnier than I would have liked it to be.  I think increasing the potatoes might help with that.  I served it with eggs to order – mine are shown fried over medium which is my favorite way to prepare eggs.

Cheesy Beef Sandwiches

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
2 teaspoons Montreal steak seasoning
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
³⁄₄ cup milk
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Salt and pepper, to taste
Sandwich rolls

Instructions
1. Heat large skillet over medium heat.  Add ground beef, steak seasoning, and Worcestershire.  Cook, stirring, until beef is browned and cooked through.  Drain beef. 

2. Melt butter in medium saucepan.  Whisk in flour.  Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until roux is light brown.  Slowly whisk in milk and bring to boil.  Continue whisking while sauce thickens.  Remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Pour sauce over ground beef (or vice versa) and stir until well combined. 

3. Serve meat in rolls. 

No photo

Comments
This recipe is from What’s Cookin, Chicago? I can’t remember if I doubled it, but I think I must have because we had a ton of leftovers that Lance applied himself to with gusto.  These were tasty sandwiches and the meat was nicely flavorful.  Sadly, I forgot to take a picture, but I served these with salads with homemade dressing.

Slow Cooker Asian Pulled Pork

Ingredients
¹⁄₄ cup soy sauce
¹⁄₄ cup plum sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sherry
1 tablespoon sriracha
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ginger, grated
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 pounds pork roast
2 cups cabbage, shredded
1 bunch green onion, chopped
2 cucumbers, sliced into thin sticks
Tortillas for serving

Instructions
1. Whisk together soy sauce, plum sauce, rice vinegar, sherry, sriracha, garlic, ginger, and sesame oil.  Place pork in slow cooker then pour sauce over roast.  Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours. 

2. Shred pork with two forks then return to slow cooker.  Cook on LOW for 15 more minutes. 

3. Serve on tortillas with cabbage, green onion, cucumber, and extra plum sauce if desired. 

Comments
This recipe is from Branny Boils Over.  My pork roast was huge, so we had leftovers for many days.  It was all delicious.  Art preferred his over rice, Lance made his into burritos, and I had mine as described in the recipe.  This was super tasty and we all enjoyed it.

Maple Bacon Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
¹⁄₂ teaspoon baking soda
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₂ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
¹⁄₂ cup plus 1 tablespoon maple syrup (Grade B preferred)
1 cup bacon, chopped and cooked until crisp

Instructions
1. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. 

2. Add butter and sugars to mixing bowl.  Cream at medium speed for three minutes or until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla, egg, and maple syrup and continue mixing until well incorporated.  Stir in the bacon pieces.  Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. 

3. Heat oven to 350*F.  Using

4. Using a #20 ice cream scoop (about 2 tablespoons), scoop 6 balls of dough onto each cookie sheet.  Bake for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Rotate the sheets halfway through cooking for even browning.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Comments
This recipe is from [Simply Recipes](http://www.simply(recipes.com/recipes/maple_cookies/), but modified by me to add bacon.  This probably sounds like a weird combination of flavors for a cookie, but a friend of mine requested that I make these for him for GenCon this year.  I tried out a few (recipes and ended up going with this one due to the great maple flavor and texture of the cookies.  They’re chewy and delicious.  I ordered Grade B maple syrup from Amazon and it worked very well, but I can’t tell you how regular Grade A would have been instead. 

Shown here with Chocolate Chip Cookies and Bacon Chocolate Cookies.  The Maple Bacon are the pale ones in the middle.

Garlic and Herb Grilled Chicken

Ingredients
¹⁄₂ cup olive oil
¹⁄₄ cup fresh basil, parsley, tarragon, oregano, mint, and/or chives, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
Ground black pepper
3-4 boneless skinless breasts

Instructions
1. Whisk together olive oil, herbs, garlic, salt and pepper. 

2. Place chicken in ziptop bag and pour marinade over chicken.  Refrigerate 3 to 24 hours. 

3. Cook chicken on grill or in skillet, 5-10 minutes per side, or until cooked through.

Comments
This recipe is from Cook’s Illustrated 2007.  The original recipe was for kebabs, but I think I was feeling lazy when the recipe came up for dinner, so we just grilled the breasts instead.  Super delicious!  Lots of great flavors. 

Shown here with Greek Cherry Tomato Salad.

Chocolate Covered Bacon

Ingredients
1 pound bacon, the thicker the better, cut into fourths
12 ounces chocolate chips, bittersweet, semisweet, or milk – your choice

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 350*F.  Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and then set wire rack into sheet.  Spread bacon pieces in single layer on wire rack.  Cook until crisp, 30 to 60 minutes depending on a number of factors such as your bacon, the oven, the baking sheet, etc.  Remove from oven and cool. 

2. Place chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl and microwave on high, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth. 

3. Dip cooled bacon into chocolate and then place on parchment paper to cool.  Transfer to refrigerator or freezer to chill completely before serving. 

Comments
I was looking for a diabetic-friendly treat to take to an event, and someone suggestion chocolate covered bacon.  Now I’m not sure that it’s actually diabetic-friendly, but it seemed like a fun thing to try. 

I thought these were fine.  Nothing I’d go out of my way to order in a restaurant, but definitely interesting enough to try.  Some people loved them, and some didn’t care for them at all.  So lots of personal variation when it came to enjoyment.

Bacon Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 ¹⁄₄ cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt or ¹⁄₂ teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
¹⁄₄ cup sugar
1 ¹⁄₄ cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups Chocolate Covered Bacon, chopped into small pieces

Instructions
1. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.

2. Pour the melted butter into mixing bowl and add the sugars.  Cream on medium speed.  Add the egg, yolk, milk, and vanilla.  Mix until well combined.  Slowly incorporated the flour mixture until completely combined.  Stir in the chocolate bacon pieces.  Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

3. Preheat oven to 375*F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Using a #20 ice cream scoop (about 2 tablespoons), scoop 6 balls of dough onto each cookie sheet.  Bake for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Rotate the sheets halfway through cooking for even browning.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. 

Comments
A friend of mine suggested that the Chocolate Covered Bacon would probably work better in a dessert than as a dessert, so I decided to give them a try in place of the chocolate chips in cookies.  They turned out really well and I definitely enjoyed the bacon more in the cookies than I did just as chocolate covered bacon.  My first batch was just a test run, so I’ll add a picture once I make them again. 

This is just my standard Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe with the chips swapped out for bacon pieces.

The Bacon Maple Cookies are on the left side of each bin.

Toasted Wheat Berry Salad with Tomato, Zucchini, and Caramelized Corn

Ingredients
1 ¹⁄₂ cups wheat berries
2 tablespoons plus ¹⁄₂ cup olive oil
2 cups frozen corn kernels
2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
¹⁄₄ cup lemon juice
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 handful basil leaves, thinly sliced
6 large tomatoes, diced, or 3 cups small tomatoes, halved
²⁄₃ cup Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded

Instructions
1. Place wheat berries in dry skillet over medium-high heat.  Toast, stirring constantly, until the grains pop and deepen in color, about 4 minutes. 

2. Place wheat berries in rice cooker bowl and cover with hot water; let soak in machine for 1 hour.  Drain wheat berries and return them to rice cooked.  Add 3 cups water, 1 pinch salt and stir to combine.  Close machine and set for brown rice or regular cycle. 

3. When machine finishes cooking, let wheat berries steam in cooker for 15 minutes then transfer to sieve to drain. 

4. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Add corn and pinch of salt.  Stir corn occasionally and cook until a bit browned, about 10 minutes.  Transfer corn to large bowl. 

5. Add another tablespoon olive oil to skillet and cook sliced zucchini, stirring often, until tender, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Transfer zucchini to bowl with corn. 

6. Pour ¹⁄₂ cup olive oil into immersion blender cup and add lemon juice, garlic, salt, black pepper, and half of basil leaves.  Blend until smooth. 

7. Transfer wheat berries to bowl with corn and zucchini.  Add dressing, Parmesan, tomatoes, and remaining basil.  Stir to combine and season with extra salt and pepper if necessary. 

Comments
This recipe is from The Flour Sack.  I feel like I made it forever ago so I don’t remember much about it, only that it was tasty and we enjoyed it.  Fresh corn kernels would probably be better, but I don’t always have the patience for that! This was a good way to use up lots of in season veggies, though.  The original recipe called for barley, but I’ve got a ton of wheat berries and I’m happy to say that they worked super well. 

Shown here with some roast that I have no recipe for.

Zucchini with Basil, Pine Nuts, and Parmesan

Ingredients
1 pound zucchini, sliced lengthwise into planks
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
¹⁄₄ cup pine nuts, toasted in dry skillet
Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded
10 large basil leaves, torn into pieces

Instructions
1. Bring large pot salted water to simmer.  Add zucchini and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. 

2. Arrange cooked zucchini on platter.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle with pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, and basil. 

Comments
This recipe is from Local Flavors.  I had some doubts as I was making it, because it is a very simple and basic recipe.  I worried it would be boring and bland.  Instead, it tasted fresh and lovely.  I love easy (recipes like this one. 

Shown here with Pork Tenderloin with Mustard Sauce.